Five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team will wait weeks until their fate in their high-profile sexual assault trial is determined.
Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have been on trial since late April inside a London, Ont., courtroom – accused of engaging in non-consensual group sex with a then-20-year-old woman in June 2018.
All five men pleaded not guilty to sexual assault when the trial began on April 22; McLeod also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
The roller-coaster trial wrapped up Friday, and Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia will summon everyone back in July to deliver her ruling.
Here is what unfolded over the eight weeks the trial played out inside the courtroom.
It initially started as a jury trial, but just a few days in, a mistrial was declared out of concern for a tainted jury after a juror accused Hillary Dudding, one of Formenton’s lawyers, of initiating conversation while in line for lunch.
Dudding denied this and said any contact with the juror was inadvertent.
The trial resumed the following week with a new jury, and they would go on to watch videos of the complainant, known as E.M., taken by McLeod, hear from then-teammate Taylor Raddysh about a group-chat screenshot he took capturing the “3 way” message by McLeod, and hear from E.M. herself.
The now-27-year-old woman, whose identity is protected under a standard publication ban, was subject to intense cross-examination during her nine days on the stand.
Court heard the team was in London for events marking its gold-medal performance at that year’s championship, and that the complainant was out with friends when they met at a downtown bar on June 18, 2018.
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After being with McLeod and his teammates at the bar, E.M. would go on to have consensual sex with McLeod in his room in the early morning hours of June 19. Court has heard that E.M., who testified she was drunk and not of clear mind, was in the washroom after she had sex with McLeod and came out to a group of men in the room allegedly invited by McLeod in the group chat.
It was then that the Crown alleges several sexual acts took place without E.M.’s consent.
Defence lawyers have suggested E.M. wasn’t as drunk as she has testified she was, wanted a “wild night” with the players and was “egging” them on to have sex with her, and accused her of having a “clear agenda” at the trial.
E.M. has pushed back against those claims and at points outright rejected them, saying she was coaxed into staying in the room and was disrespected and taken advantage of by the group, who she said “could see I was out of my mind.”
After E.M. finished her testimony, then-teammate Tyler Steenbergen took the stand as a Crown witness, but his testimony was halted just two days in.
Court received a note from a juror stating they believed Formenton’s lawyers, Dudding and Dan Brown, would “turn to each other and laugh as if they are discussing our appearance” when the jury was entering the room.
Carroccia said she was concerned this could impact some jurors’ ability to fairly decide the case and that it could have a chilling effect on the defence lawyers. Brown and Dudding called the juror’s note an “unfortunate misinterpretation” and said “the very idea of counsel making light of a juror is illogical and runs directly counter to our purpose and function.”
Carroccia would go on to dismiss that jury, and the trial would go on by judge alone.
Eventually, court would go on to hear from police officers involved in the initial case in 2018 – and the renewed case in 2022 – and other players from that year’s team.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden came under intense questioning during his time on the stand, and at one point briefly broke down in tears.
He teared up as he described feeling scared and nervous after learning Hockey Canada had launched an investigation into the encounter and realizing he would have to explain the situation to his parents and his girlfriend, now his wife.
Howden was accused by the Crown of feigning memory loss on details that could be damaging to his friends – which Carroccia ruled was unfounded – and faced questions in a voir dire over a text conversation the Crown wanted to introduce as evidence due to his lack of memory.
That conversation, which Crown prosecutors described as “critical,” was not admitted as evidence after Carroccia ruled against it twice.
Only Hart would testify at the trial, while the other players’ lawyers cited evidence and police interviews that were already played in court as part of the reasons why their clients were opting not to testify.
Hart testified in part that E.M. was asking the players to have sex with her, and he chose to ask for oral sex because he did not want to have intercourse. He said it was “consensual” and brief because it was “weird.”
Hart would agree with Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham under cross-examination that he was “putting a lot of faith in your friend, Mr. McLeod, to set something up that was morally acceptable to you.”
During closing submissions, defence lawyers called the trial “historic” and repeatedly attacked E.M.’s credibility, saying she “created a lie” out of regret and embarrassment, and that throughout the night, her “communication of consent is overwhelming.”
Meanwhile, the Crown urged the judge to convict the men, with prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham arguing the men were “reckless” for engaging in group sex with E.M. and not seeking her affirmative consent.
Cunningham said E.M. is a credible witness because she was abundantly fair in the trial, clear and concise, not resentful and confirmatory. She argued many defence submissions on E.M.’s behaviour are based on assumptions about how someone in her situation would act.
Court will resume at on July 24, when Carroccia will deliver her ruling.
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